Biznology

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

Image by renaissancechambara via Flickr. by Frank Reed. As the local component of the online space continues to heat up, it is starting to get very crowded. There is Google, Facebook, Groupon, foursquare, Gowalla, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, IYP, YellowBook, Merchant Circle, InsiderPages etc, etc., etc.—the list goes on and on. As with anything in life, if there are a lot of options, you are either happy for the choices or confused and frustrated by too many options.

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SMB Internet Marketing Work Management Google 113

Biznology

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Image by prettyflower via Flickr. by Aaron Kim. This is my final post on the skewed Web. In the early days of Web 2.0 awareness, much was said about the new —now old—Web being all about participation: in the age of User-Generated Content , everybody and their mother became a publisher, leveling the playing field. An independent blogger could potentially be more influential than a New York Times columnist, and the role of editors in identifying and promoting relevant content would be

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Biznology

JULY 7, 2010

Image by Premshree Pillai via Flickr. My wife and I ordered breakfast in a busy diner and the waitress returned the omelets we had ordered, except my wife soon discovered that hers had the wrong kind of cheese. Our waitress had already left our table, and was extremely busy. Linda and I were both very hungry, so she ate what she had been given, even thought it was not what she wanted.

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Business Internet Marketing Tagging Impressions 113

Biznology

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Image by fredcavazza via Flickr. by Frank Reed. I realize that the terms "social media" and "slowing down" are never to be used in the same post (let alone a headline!) according to the Secret Brotherhood of the Social Media Industry Public Relations and Hype Machine (the SBSMIPRHM for short ;-) ) but I did it. Why? Well, this week I came across a report that was put together by Network Solutions and some folks from the University of Maryland and I was a little surprised by one chart in particul

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Social Media SMB Media Customer Satisfaction 112

Biznology

OCTOBER 31, 2010

Image via Wikipedia. We're all spending a lot more time thinking about mobile marketing these days, but the statistics that we use to track it aren't keeping up. It was so easy not so long ago, when mobile phones were the only way to be online while on the go. But so much has changed in the last couple of years that we are now counting many activities as being mobile when they are not, and we are not counting many activities as mobile when they really are.

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Activities Wikipedia Internet Marketing Mobile Marketing 111

Biznology

OCTOBER 13, 2010

Image via Wikipedia. I was in London last week, reminding me how I always like the simple phrase that asks you to be careful as you step from the Underground subway car to the platform, "Mind the Gap." But I think marketers need to mind a different gap, the one between the frills of image marketing and real customer value. And guess who is there to teach us that lesson today?

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Wikipedia Social Media Paid Search Agency Transparency 111

Biznology

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Image by cackhanded via Flickr. Because I am a household name (at least in my own household), sometimes I am sent books to review for this blog. Once in a while, I actually read them and review them, such as today, for the Joanne Cantor book Conquer CyberOverload. The book is chock-full of useful advice for taming your cyber-demons, but it's mostly for taming yourself--getting you out of the bad habits that lower productivity and create stress, with multitasking perhaps being #1 on the demon hit

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Internet Marketing Case Studies Work Management Tagging 110

Biznology

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

Image by exfordy via Flickr. I don't know if this is an American thing, but we seem to have a trust in technology so deep that it can never really fulfill our fantasies. I thought about this on my trip to Europe when I saw a design for flushing a toilet that allows the person to decide whether they need a big flush or a small one. (I'll leave it to you to figure when each is appropriate.

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Biznology

DECEMBER 14, 2010

Image by PhotoJonny via Flickr. by Tim Peter. How much of your traffic comes from search engines? How much from Google? If you're like most businesses, you probably get a fair bit of your traffic from the Big G. But, what if it all went away? What if you walked in tomorrow and all your search traffic dried up? Can't imagine it? Well, Google changes its search algorithm hundreds of times each year , on average more than once a day.

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Cost Per Thousand Cost per Acquisition Cost Per Click Google 108

Biznology

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Image by Steve Wilhelm via Flickr. by Frank Reed. In recent months, there's been no shortage of attention heaped upon the importance of local advertising online. Mobile marketing is starting to blossom, allowing people to look for services in ways they never could before. Perhaps even more importantly, they can search for information in situations they never could before, such as research at the point of sale.

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Google Paid Search Agency Marketing Analytics Tools B2B 108

Biznology

DECEMBER 16, 2010

Cover via Amazon. Some books deserve to be read and re-read. Every few years, I crack open Terms of Engagement by Dick Axelrod, to remind me of how to really bring about organizational change. So, I was heartened when I was contacted to receive a copy of the new improved Second Edition published earlier this year. Internet marketers are constantly talking about engagement, but they often overlook the engagement of their own employees when bringing about the big changes needed to implement social

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Social Media Social Marketing Planning Media 106

Biznology

DECEMBER 8, 2010

Image via Wikipedia. These days, marketers must do whatever they can to distinguish themselves and their companies. We talk a lot on this blog about how to do that in social media, in search, and in other digital ways, but I find that public speaking appearances are an overlooked way of getting your name in the spotlight. Now I know that public speaking isn't for everyone, but it might be for you.

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Wikipedia Paid Search Agency Impressions Marketing 106

Biznology

DECEMBER 6, 2010

Image by bmevans80 via Flickr. "Social search" has been discussed for a long time, but in the last couple of months it has sneaked up on some of us. Like Web 2.0, people talked about it a lot for a while, but then they stopped, because Web 2.0 just became what we all know as the Web. Similarly, what we used to talk about as social search has now become just search, because it's here.

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Biznology

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

Image via Wikipedia. I'm old enough to remember when all you needed to do to persuade an executive about an issue was to show him some data in a spreadsheet. "The computer is always right," they thought, so they went along with whatever you presented. (OK, I am older than dirt.) Now people quickly started to realize that you could manipulate a spreadsheet in a million ways to make the calculations come out your way, but there is still plenty of magical thinking going on, where we believe whateve

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Biznology

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Image by Joshua Kaufman via Flickr. by Frank Reed. Everywhere you turn these days, the news is about location-based services in the online space—and how to get deals as a result of this location craze. It was rather quaint when you needed only to choose between Foursquare and Gowalla and you knew that the only thing at stake was a useless online badge proving you were more vain than the previous mayor of wherever.

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SMB Internet Marketing Social Media Tagging 106

Biznology

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

Image by Anirudh Koul via Flickr. I've spent a career trying to get people to stop obsessing over strategy and just do something, but I am starting to wonder if people like me have been a bit too successful. I'm starting to see companies shoot from the hip to such a great extent that they have no idea why they are even doing something. I watch smart companies jump into social media every day with no clue as to why they are doing it.

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Social Media Media Tagging Social Marketing 106

Biznology

OCTOBER 13, 2010

I have written in a few places this week about the move that Google announced as Marissa Mayer, their front facing VP of search products, was leaving that position and taking over Google's location and local services activities. There has been widespread speculation about what this move means including many who feel that this was a demotion of sorts.

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Biznology

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Image by dni777 via Flickr. by Aaron Kim. As I discussed in my post last month, it's a skewed Web out there. A multitude of online social filters were developed over the last 15 years to address our perennial information overload curse. From Google's page rank, we went all the way to tag clouds, social bookmarking, Twitter trending topics and Gmail's Priority Inbox , trying to find ways to make what matters float to the top.

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Biznology

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

Image via Wikipedia. While I was away on vacation, David Meermen Scott sent me his latest book, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead , which I finally had a chance to read now that I am back and you should read it, too. As familiar as I was with the Grateful Dead, I never thought about the fact that the way they sold themselves became a blueprint for so much of how businesses succeed online today.

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Paid Search Agency Advertising Agencies Merchandising Wikipedia 106

Biznology

AUGUST 2, 2010

Image by voyageAnatolia.blogspot.com via Flickr. If you've ever watched a storm coming over the horizon, you'll be right at home with the changes that are happening in marketing. Everywhere you look, marketing is undergoing changes. If you have the new skills required, it should be a smooth ride for you, but if you don't, you might be in for a rocky ride.

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Biznology

DECEMBER 16, 2010

Image by Getty Images via @daylife. by Frank Reed. Because this is my last post here at Mike's Biznology blog for 2010, I am going to do something that I never ever do—make some predictions for upcoming year. I don't usually do this because I am not a fortune teller and I haven't stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in at least the past five years.

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Biznology

DECEMBER 12, 2010

Image by Seven Morris via Flickr. I did a short (under 45-minute) Webinar last week for Enquiro (now part of Mediative ), on a subject that I am often asked about, "How do you get C-level execs to invest in search marketing?" The Webinar, ably hosted by Bill Barnes, VP of Business Development at Mediative, allowed me to pass along five of my favorite tips.

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Biznology

DECEMBER 10, 2010

Image by Getty Images via @daylife. by Frank Reed. This week we watched Google, the search engine monster with the mountain of cash from Mountain View, be rejected by Groupon, the little startup that could (as in "could" be offered a huge number to be purchased). Most of the industry couldn't get over the number that Google was willing to fork-out to get the daily deal site, reportedly $5.3 billion with a $700 million earn-out.

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Biznology

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

Image by Tamar Weinberg via Flickr. You probably don't think much about whether you enter singular or plural versions of your keywords into the search box, but we're starting to see reasons why search marketers should care what searchers do. In the old days, both forms of keywords usually yielded the same search results, but not any more. The results are still similar, but if it's your site that gets booted from one of those variations, you need to care about why that is happening and what you c

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Keywords SEO Tagging Search Marketing 104

Biznology

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

Image by circulating via Flickr. An entire cottage industry has arisen that does nothing but track Google's movements, and I am as guilty of this obsessive Google watching as everyone else. But is reacting to Google's every move the path to success? I am reminded of hockey great Wayne Gretsky, who always explained his uncanny ability as "skating to where the puck is going to be.

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Biznology

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Image by IvanClow via Flickr. If you've worked in Search Engine Optimization for a long time, as I have, you've watched it grow from a baby into its awkward teenage years, but you know that there is still a lot of growth to go. Recently, I was interviewed along with a few other folks for an article for 1to1 Marketing that looks at what's happening now in search, as well as where things are going.

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Biznology

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Image by Fräulein Schiller via Flickr. I'm not sure how many of you have been looking at social media monitoring, but the list of you is growing rapidly. What's growing even faster is the list of vendors entering this space and the claims they make as to how well their monitoring tools work. If you've been confused by what you are hearing about the new social media listening industry, check out my latest post on the Converseon blog, " Ours Go to Eleven!

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Biznology

OCTOBER 14, 2010

Image by add1sun via Flickr. Search marketing seems like it changes every minute, and it's hard to blame anyone who is worried about falling behind. With big news such as Google Instant seemingly coming every instant, anyone might be concerned that their SEO knowledge is becoming outdated and that their search rankings will be the next thing to drop.

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Biznology

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Image by mskogly via Flickr. I know that many people worry about the risks of companies engaging in social media. Often they use these risks as excuses to stay out of social media and even to prohibit anyone in their company from being involved. That kind of behavior has its own risk of being missing in action from your customers who are using social media.

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Social Media Media Paid Search Agency Newsletter 104

Biznology

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

Image by fredcavazza via Flickr. It's the musical question that everyone seems to be asking these days. And the answer depends on what you are trying to do. Too often, people ask that question, assuming that what they have in mind is all that can be done with social media. So, when a PR person asks, they look at social media as a communications mechanism.

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Biznology

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Image by David Panevin via Flickr. We've all seen that look on the face of the boss. It says, "What on earth are you talking about?" Sometimes that look is something we deserve to see, because we really don't know what we are doing, but often, it's because we just have something to say that the boss doesn't understand. Recently, a client asked me how she can wipe that look off the her CMO's face every time she starts talking about measuring Web conversions and offline conversions.

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Biznology

AUGUST 8, 2010

Image by dampeebe via Flickr. by Frank Reed. I remind you that this series that I have been putting together on how different publishers and content producers either help or hinder their efforts is based on how I receive information most effectively. I am not arrogant enough to think I can list your "Top 10 Content Deliveries" for you because content is extremely personal.

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Biznology

JULY 13, 2010

Image via Wikipedia. Sometimes you see something that helps put into perspective a whole class of behavior that makes no sense. I'm talking about the bland kind of corporate good citizenship that is stamped out by a cookie cutter and could easily be grafted on to any business. Does your company constantly make donations to worthy causes? Does it show everyone how it is going green?

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Biznology

JUNE 3, 2010

Image via Wikipedia. by Frank Reed. Social media is growing. We all get that. The rate of adoption is often a skewed measure depending on who has been asked. The social media "professional" has the nearly automated response of "Everyone does it! It's easy! It's cheap! It's great!" Someone more firmly rooted in reality will say that many companies are having great success using social media for lead generation and other business needs, but that not everyone is on board yet.

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Biznology

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Image by K. Todd Storch via Flickr. There's lots of talk about mobile marketing, and rightly so. Although we see some use of the term mobile marketing for things that aren't mobile , we are still seeing tremendous increases in usage. And some businesses benefit from that mobile usage more than others. Just when you have started to adjust to people searching from their phones, I am here to ask you to get your heads around people searching from their cars.

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SEO Mobile Marketing Internet Marketing Tagging 101

Biznology

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

Image by stevegarfield via Flickr. Is your head spinning? Between Google Instant, Google Preview, and other changes, Google seems to change the organic marketing game on poor SEOs every month. If you are wondering what strategy you can adopt that will help you keep up with the incredible pace of change flowing out of Google Land, check out my latest post on Search Engine Guide, " Are you keeping up with Google?

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Biznology

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

Image via Wikipedia. I am a member of the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) and I usually do a free speech there once a year--my way of giving back some of the value that organization has to me. I spoke to the New Jersey chapter on Friday and thought it would be good to share my slides with you, too. My topic was " What Are Your Customers Saying About You?

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Social Media Media Wikipedia Forrester 101